DVDs and Films You Have Watched Recently #2

[Green]

I never really saw Batman as physically intimidating though, he's more of a skilled fighter than a meathead.

 

Keaton was an excellent Batman and, as has been said above, Tim Burton's first Batman film is the best of all the cinema takes on Batman. And I say that as someone who pretty much detests Burton nowadays.

Burton is pretty awful nowadays. I was dragged to see the new Alice In Wonderland and it became the second film I've walked out of. I would have left earlier if I wasn't forcing myself to stay around for the sake of my friend who wanted to see it. Eventually even he agreed it was awful and we could go.

 

Still despite that, his Batman films are far more enjoyable than Nolan's. Doing a serious and dark take on Batman doesn't mean it also needs to be boring as sin. Worst part about it is half the time it ends up looking ridiculous, like when Scarecrow sets him on fire in Begins or Joker's entire break out of prison bit in TDK.

[Van Dammer]

Do you guys mean 'better batman' as in better overall in their films or just as batman?

 

Because Christian Bale doesn't make for a very good Bruce Wayne, but I like him when he's batman. Michael Keaton on the other hand isn't really quite physically intimidating enough as Batman but is an excellent Bruce Wayne.

 

I never thought Keaton pulled off Bruce Wayne, he looks more like a plumber than a multi billionaire, ultra sophisticated, over confident business man. Bale, whilst not excellent, looks the part so much better than Keaton did.

[The King Of Swing]

Val Kilmer was a decent Bruce Wayne imo shit Batman though.

[Vice]

I think Keaton's a good and likeable actor. But I don't totally buy him as a devilishly handsome, sophisticated billionaire playboy, nor does he seem like he could realistically beat anyone up.

 

I also watched Sucker Punch, which was just mind-numbingly bad. So blunt, shallow and messy that it was hard to care about or find any of it entertaining.

 

Sucker Punch fails at almost everything apart from looking quite nice. It has a weird fantasy element which means there is never any tension or drama in any of the action pieces, There is zero character for anyone in it and Zack Snyder has overdone the time remapping fast/slow motion and its just boring now. I really wanted to like it when I went to the cinema but its just a very very bad film

Absolutely. The fantasy video game sequences just end up removing you from the film at every level. They're pure spectacle, and not even entertaining spectacle.

 

I watched The Tunnel last night. It's an Australian horror film that's legally being given away free through torrents, etc. And it's not even worth the effort obtaining it. It's done in the form of a documentary that combines Blair Witch/Cloverfield-style handheld footage with security camera footage, news reports and talking heads (of those who don't die, obviously). But all the stuff interwoven with the handheld footage ends up being distracting and kills any suspense. And the main characters (a news team who secretly go to investigate the bizarre happenings in a tunnel) are already unlikeable and silly enough that I don't want any talking head cutaways from them. On top of that, there's loads of nonsensical and frustrating moments. The worst is probably when the creature in the tunnel actually picks up a free camera, watches the characters through it and even instantly knows how to operate the zoom.

Edited June 28, 2011 by Vice

[Foale]

Watched Capricorn One last night. Loved the concept, the film is extremely dated though. One of the few films that could probably benefit with a re-make. Not sure how they'd be able to modernise it though, unless they set it back in the 70's again.

 

For those who don't know, it's about about a group of astronauts being forced to fake the Mars landing, with certain people catching on that the whole thing was a fake and being knocked off as a result. Terrific stuff, definitely worth watching if you haven't seen it.

 

<-- click on 'spoiler' to show/hide the spoiler

 

Would've liked to have actually seen Dr. James Kelloway get his comeuppance though, rather than just having the film end with a cheesy slow motion run towards the camera!

 

[close spoiler]

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Edited June 28, 2011 by Foale

[bwo]

Not long back from seeing Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Has to be the best of the bunch so far. Very enjoyable film, and the characters weren't as annoying as they were in the last one.

 

Also Buzz Aldrin.

[Jas]

Saw the new Transformers last night and this was a marked improvement over the last one.

 

<-- click on 'spoiler' to show/hide the spoiler

Pros:

- The special effects were good and suitably epic at times.

- Very good first 20 minutes. Okay the last 140 minutes.

- Shockwave and the 'meal worm' thing were quite scary in some scenes.

- Optimus Prime finally acted like the hero we all know he can be

- More colour to the robots helped distinguished them from each other

- Much less Sams mum and dad and the little Joe Pesci transformer (the former are done away with quickly)

- No racist robots (although there was an Autobot who spoke with an awful Japanese accent (?), the Ferrari I think)

- Good 3D effects

- Some of the robot deaths are handled much better this time and we're given a bit of time to take it in.

 

Cons:-

- Sams girlfriend Rosie Hunter is the worst actress ever.

- The 'goofy funny' comedy is still there (but toned down)

- The abrupt ending

- Why oh why has there to be in almost every scene some sort of funny scene or quirky comment made with comedy music in the background? Even in the serious scenes? It totally kills the momentum, for example, Sam and his buzzing watch (don't ask) making him act like he's having a spasm and about to shit himself, this was during a very important moment in the movie and it was played for laughs.

- 'Missing Autobot Syndrome' returns for some of the scenes

 

And the worst bit in the movie?

 

The appalling treatment of Megatron - I mean seriously, we get 'Taliban farmer Megatron' in the beginning tending to his erm robot farm animals wearing what looks like a poorly conceived burka wrapped up by a 3 year old and then we get 'slummed up Chicago bum/hobo Megatron' at the end laying in some back alley somewhere covered in what looked like robot fleas!?

AND Rosie Hunter of all people completely owns him by telling him what a giant pussy he is! Disgraceful!!

 

[close spoiler]

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Edited July 1, 2011 by Jas

[bwo]

You might want to put most of that in spoiler tags.

[Jas]

You might want to put most of that in spoiler tags.

 

Done. Cheers

[The Reverend]

Not long back from seeing Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Has to be the best of the bunch so far. Very enjoyable film, and the characters weren't as annoying as they were in the last one.

 

Also Buzz Aldrin.

 

Did anyone see this:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/markkermode/201...of_the_moo.html

 

Totally sums up my feelings towards this film. So boring and far too long. The problem is that these 'Lets destroy entire cities' type movies have been done before so many times. At one point towards the end I couldn't work out if it was Transformers I was watching or Battlefield: Los Angeles.

[Kookoocachu]

I had a case of Deja vu when watching Transformers.

 

Ever get a case of "Hey I've seen that before, and if that's what I think it is, that's fucking terrible!"?

I wasn't 100% on what I saw, so I trotted off to Google and sure enough it was true.

 

They used the same car crash plate as The Island, and some very helpful person put both clips together:

 

 

How do we feel on films reusing effects plates? I'm ok with it, but it's not just the car they have taken from it, it's the whole clip with the other traffic so I'm not that comfortable with it.

 

Why the hell aren't the spoiler tags working?

 

EDIT2: I fucking give up.

Edited July 2, 2011 by Kookoocachu

[sgmilne]

I plan on writing a review of Transformers - probably tomorrow.

 

But I honestly thought it was a load of shit. The action sequence at the end seemed to last for a whole hour.

 

edit: Review now up in the link below

Edited July 3, 2011 by sgmilne

[Jas]

I plan on writing a review of Transformers - probably tomorrow.

 

But I honestly thought it was a load of shit. The action sequence at the end seemed to last for a whole hour.

 

Well the Topless Robot review/FAQ is up and it's a great read and is easily as funny as the FAQ for TF2 Revenge of the Fallen.

 

FAQ/Review

[Astro Hollywood]

I had a case of Deja vu when watching Transformers.

 

Ever get a case of "Hey I've seen that before, and if that's what I think it is, that's fucking terrible!"?

I wasn't 100% on what I saw, so I trotted off to Google and sure enough it was true.

 

They used the same car crash plate as The Island, and some very helpful person put both clips together:

 

 

How do we feel on films reusing effects plates? I'm ok with it, but it's not just the car they have taken from it, it's the whole clip with the other traffic so I'm not that comfortable with it.

 

Why the hell aren't the spoiler tags working?

 

EDIT2: I fucking give up.

 

Here's that, and another lift from The Island, in action:

 

Also:

 

 

Those movies are just a bunch of shapes hitting other shapes and twirling around in the air. It's more of an adaptation of this than any cartoon.

 

Edited July 3, 2011 by Woyzeck

[The King Of Swing]

Cannibal Apocalypse

 

One of the notorious video nasties and like many of them doesn't at all live upto it's status (I wouldn't be suprised if it was added to the list mainly because of the name thanks to Cannibal Holocaust) but still it's a just about watchable of it's time shlocker and at about 90 minutes doesn't out stay it's welcome plus it's dirt cheap on amazon.

 

Gore hounds would be better off avoiding it but anyone looking for some brainless early 80's fun with a funky, out of place soundtrack could do much worse.

 

KoS Rating: 6/10

Edited July 3, 2011 by The King Of Swing